The Mythical Creature Controls Act
by aphtrashbin
Summary: 16 years after the legalization of the Mythical Creatures Controls Act, Arthur Kirkland, undocumented faerie resident of England living in a small coastal town, watch as humans capture a merman- and he cannot stand back and watch as humans continue to prey on what they don't understand nor plan to ever understand. USUK.
1. Chapter 1

"He obviously just should have been more careful."

He was just one of the bystanders, one of the fae that hid behind a glamour, unwilling to let humans see him as they gathered around the beach, looking like any other tourist to the non-magical eye.

His strange best friend and rival, a proud faere man named Francis, was watching the poor creature that found itself in its current predicament with a bit of distaste. "Surely the thing realized that he should have stayed down in the depths where they belong, right?"

Arthur stared at the thing, a tad more sympathetic than his partner. It looked to have just reached the peak of puberty, and even as it rolled against its human captors, trying desperately for an escape even as sand coated its lovely blue scales. "He's undoubtedly going to be sold, Francis." He pointed out, biting his lip. "He doesn't deserve that."

"That's his problem." The other faerie shrugged, turning his back on it. "We don't fly anymore because of humans."

"That's a lie and you know it, Francis." Arthur argued sharply, furrowing his brows. "You went flying last week, in an open field. You have a glamour that this poor boy doesn't."

"They have glamour-detection technology, Arthur." He pointed, hating that he had been found out to be lying so easily. "Additionally, he had the whole ocean to swim around in. Certainly he could have avoided the shore?"

"Maybe he could have, but would you want to stay underwater?" Arthur argued, weaker now with Francis's point that this was undoubtedly a suicidal option for him. He had so many other places to go.

"You and I can not leave this country even as the anti-magical crackdown continues its path to close its vile hands around our proverbial throats- he could have gone anywhere in the world, and yet he came here."

This was undoubtedly true, and bitterness was palpable in Arthur's mouth. He loved to fly, and though Francis had managed to get some time in the air, he was horribly right in that the merman had essentially handed over his freedom.

The merman stopped struggling, and Arthur spotted the tranq darts sticking out of him- 3 of them, to be precise- wasn't that excessive? He had been struggling for the greater part of 20 minutes, and the fae had stopped to watch the show, and some came to report, and others to sympathize but not do anything. They knew if they did something, if they showed their magic…their necks would be right next to the boy's at the auction, or at a government lab, or worse.

Blue eyes, pupils wide and eyelids dropping, caught Arthur's suddenly and kept him frozen for a moment, the faerie's stomach sinking lower as he realized that the other creature could see them for what they were. They didn't plead, they simply stared, and Arthur didn't know if he had pleaded if it would have been worse. The fact that he didn't even try only signaled to Arthur that the merman had resigned himself to not receive any assistance from his fellow magical kind.

His eyes closed, and that was the end of that train of thought.

Eyes went to the water, and they spotted two heads, one frantically screaming and the other dragging him back to the depths, baring sharp teeth at the humans. The other members of his pod, Arthur figured, as they sank under the water to avoid being shot at by humans.

His wings rustled invisibly behind him as he turned and watched the manhandling of the merman, going limp as humans gripped at it with their greedy hands, and no small amount of them decided to peel away bright blue scales for their own collections, and Arthur saw reddish purple blood dripping onto previously white sand. Of course, the humans were soon ushered away, and Arthur only caught glimpses of the merman being dragged away by men in lab coats.

Arthur's stomach sunk further. It wasn't the worst ending, but it was up there. In the best-case scenario, the merman would be kept in captivity for the rest of his life. The worst case meant experiments and eventual autopsy on him, or death the moment he arrived to wherever they were taking the boy.

"Don't even think about it." Francis murmured wearily as he glanced at Arthur, already knowing what was going through his mind. "Your brother would hate to lose you."

Arthur grimaced instantly. Damn Francis for always knowing what he was thinking!

His wings rustled again, delicate and hidden from human sight. He tried to turn away, not notice the license plate, not notice that the humans were taking him north…no, certainly didn't notice it. And he definitely didn't notice the fact that they weren't taking him to the highway, but rather up into the main part of town.

"But I must, Francis." He eventually sighing, settling on it after seeing the agents continue into town with a longing look. "I'll be careful. We'll plan this out; find a way to crash their system before we get him. I don't particularly wish get caught, but…he looked at me, Francis. He knew that we, the fae, saw him being taken."

Francis took a deep breath, before rubbed his temples and nodded. "I must wonder why I am your best friend, Arthur, since you always seemed so enthusiastic about the prospect of being killed for someone else."

Arthur rolled his eyes with begrudging affection. "You know that's exactly why we're friends." He pointed out, patting his shoulder as the former captive fell into step behind Arthur as they returned to their home.

XXXXX

Arthur, a bright and crafty fae even as a young boy, had once helped an older, more feminine appearing faerie man escape from an auction. The two had been best friends ever since, when Arthur, a 8 year old had helped Francis, a 9 year old, out from human hands.

The world had only recently opened its borders to them in every sense of the word.

They, of course, referring to the magical folk that inhabited the world- they had always existed, but a brave faerie woman had decided to reveal herself to her husband, and for a time, there had been peace.

Then of course, the husband had grown tired of milking her for fame, and the human world was easily disenchanted with magical beings when the faerie woman killed the man for sleeping with another, dooming her to a painful death. Not that the humans had cared that she was to die anyway- they had killed her sickly form in a form of justice, and started a war that culminated in the anti-mythical creatures act, also called the Mythical Creature Controls Act. As though they were creatures- as though they needed to be controlled.

The world had just as quickly turned on them, and suddenly didn't want anything to do with them. In the same breath of life as discovering magical beings, they began hunting them down. Some for glory, with the head of a unicorn mounted on their wall, others for prestige, with a personal genie willing to do their bidding. Others wanted them for science, and trapping them was easy for a time, until they broke altogether and could be dissected. And Francis had been meant for personal use, either sexual or manual labor.

It had been 20 years ago when the faerie woman had been revealed to the world. Arthur had been only a toddler at the time. He had been 7 when the law had been passed nearly unanimously in Parliament and a similar act in Congress.

Arthur had been quick enough and smart enough to devise a trap for humans before helping Francis out. Francis considered it his greatest debt to the younger faerie, but not his only. Arthur had a notorious hero complex, and though it wasn't always a good thing, it generally worked in his favor rather than against it.

And at the moment, it was telling Arthur to help the merman escape, so that would be their course of action.

"When we're finished with this." Francis griped on day 58 of looking through the human's system for the flaw to take advantage of, "I consider my debt to you _fully_ repaid."

Arthur nodded agreeably. "Certainly, Francis. I wouldn't actually have held you accountable to any debt, you know. God knows I'd be glad to see less involved in my life."

Francis sighed, rubbing his forehead. "I know." He muttered. "It simply makes me feel better to say it, Rosbif."

Arthur's green eyes returned to stare We should be ready for infiltration in two days, since that's when the lazy guards are late to their night shift. How's the security footage looking?"

"I think I've found the best way to erase it, but since I can't find an error in the code from here..." He made a face. "I think we'll have to do it once we're inside their building. I have accessed their footage, and lord, Arthur. You know how to pick them, don't you?" He grimaced a bit, turning the monitor fashioned from magic and technology towards him.

The first thing Arthur saw was the blue scaled merman, with blood in the water, swimming so fast that he would hit himself on the side of his tank, or on the metal surface inside of it meant to function as a bed. The lights were bright, and his blue eyes were wide open wide and dilated as he sank to the bottom before starting up again. "This was him towards the start of his captivity"

Francis fast-forwarded with a flick of his wrist, and landed on the merman, this time seeming to be in a state of blissful unawareness on the surface with humans poking and prodding at him, and then Arthur saw them setting him up with a semen collector. He looked away out of politeness for his fellow magical creature as Francis turned it off. "He's alive, and they seem to be having fun with him for the moment. I'll keep an eye on the footage, but I think we have plenty of time for this mission timeline we scheduled to be executed as planned." Francis said.

"He's alive, and in two days, we're getting him out of there."

Arthur nodded firmly, and returned to preparing his magically enhanced sling, which required a lot of complex spells to work properly. Alistair had wound up finding them out a while back, and though he sighed dramatically at Arthur's refusal to protect themselves and let the creature die there, had agreed that the sea creature was very poor off and it made his heart- even more compassionate than Arthur's, though slightly more self-serving- bleed to see how the blue scales had dulled considerably at the three week mark of his captivity as the merman gorged himself mindlessly on food offered to him. They had been caught after 3 weeks, a personal record for Arthur in reference to keeping a secret from Alistair and his nosy personality.

But that aside- they had a lot of work to do still.

In the safety of their own home, Arthur and Alistair's wings shimmered brightly. There wasn't enough space to fly around, though, and it led to them being a bit weak. He loved flying, and missed it dearly.

Alistair's assistance was much welcomed and much needed. Their mother had once told Arthur that he was the more responsible of the band of brothers, but he and Alistair were the only ones left living in this town, and there was no doubting that Alistair was also the more physically endowed of the two.

"The most tricky part is going to be getting him out of the water." Arthur mused as he looked back at their travel case for the merman.

"Mmm." Alistair nodded his head, examining footage with Arthur since Francis had long since gone to bed. "Our wings are water proof, brother."

"Still, do _you_ wish to immerse them?" Arthur pointed out, before Alistair gasped as they saw two humans coming into the room with the merman.

Alistair turned up audio, a bit hesitant since they didn't know if they wanted to hear this conversation. "-nestly, there were simply too many confounding variables for this experiment to have turned out. The only useful sample and data you have produced is its _semen_."

"The creature is still under my jurisdiction." The first scientist, nasally and generally unpleasant sounding argued. "Get your morbid hands out of my lab. I have another 31 days before the experiment is finished."

"It is rapidly losing muscle mass!" The other scientist pointed out. "And brain matter! We have never conducted an autopsy on an unaltered mer, and that is foolish of us- to think that we don't know their potential in the wild!"

"If you keep harassing me, I won't let you have the body, I'll get it transferred to some auction, and surely someone disgusting would love a quiet merman who obeys every order and enjoys sex." The first scientist gloated, and Arthur and Alistair felt sick as the second one left the room with an angry huff while the first finished writing things up.

"I should have never let them take him." Arthur muttered in disgust, rubbing his temples. "Humans are despicable."

"Uh, we knew this, Arthur." Francis rolled his eyes. "Surely you know, even now some of them think that "gender" and "race" are anything more than social constructs that some people benefit off of daily while others get _fucked_ because of. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that they would do this to us, other species entirely, if they treat their closest relatives in the evolutionary tree this way."

Arthur sighed, staring at the merman in the tank through the footage. "I just hope we're not too late…"

XXXXX

The night of the operation was simple enough. The guards were late, and Alistair had disabled the outside camera from their home. They had decided to bring as few hands as possible. Francis would destroy the technological data to prevent people from tracing who had been watching them, while Arthur freed the merman from his cage.

Arthur and Francis opened the door with ease with gloved hands, since Alistair had disabled the locks for the time being. He got through, since the last guard out had left all the doors open inside the building for the late guards, just as he usually did.

Humans were so stupid, he thought to himself as he entered the chamber that he had watched for weeks on end.

The merman was at the bottom of his tank, eyes closed in what appeared to be slumber. Arthur had to flinch, though. Those lights were even brighter in person. They seemed to be focused from the outside in, reflecting at all times at the merman- likely so he couldn't see anything outside his tank.

Arthur turned them off and the room went dim, as the lights above became the only source of light in the room. The merman had flinched, and opened his eyes slowly, blearily gazing around, almost in confusion. Arthur began step 2- draining the tank of most of its water. The merman seemed to notice, but didn't react other than to open his mouth dully and stare upward. He blinked as his head emerged from the water, as though he'd not known that it was coming for him, before he lay down entirely, sinking into the roughly foot and a half of water that remained.

Arthur climbed into the tank. "Hello?" He said while still not in the water. "Can you hear me?"

There was no response, not even a twitch of movement. Arthur leaned to get a sample of the water, flying over the tank to stay out of reach if the merman did decide to be violent. He collected a bit more, before stuffing them into the outer pockets of his bag.

The merman stayed to his part of the tank, and Arthur eventually fluttered over to him, staring down at the merman's bleary blue eyes and dulled, occasionally bloody scales, before he gently reached in and gripped his right hand, lifting it out of the water for a response. His skin was cool, but his heart rate seemed strangely high for someone resting like this. Perhaps he was scared?

"Don't be frightened…" Arthur murmured gently to reassure him. "I'm sorry it's taken us so long. But we're getting you out of here."

The merman didn't react, so Arthur scooped up him along with a bunch of the water into his bag, sending the merman into a magically created limbo for ease of carrying. He flew out of the tank with his bag, and drained it all the way. Then, he went on to Francis, who was rapidly destroying everything in their databases.

He picked up the merman's intake sheet, interested. "Alfred." He read, quietly. "That's his name."

"You should keep those." Francis instructed, nodding as he finished by planting the virus in their system to destroy as much as they possibly could. "It could be useful. But we should go."

Arthur nodded, folding the papers neatly and placing them in his pocket before he threw the emptied clipboard into the tank. "Mission accomplished. Let's leave this wretched place."

The two ran, and they were out before the next set of guards ever arrived.

With slightly labored breaths and a brief smile on Arthur's part as they greeted Alistair at the door, the three of them looked to the magically enchanted suitcase, and brought him into their home.

XXXXX

First order of business was getting the water he had been in tested, while Arthur rinsed him off. Alfred didn't respond to them whatsoever, not speaking or even moving. Arthur knew he could- he'd seen him do it before on the tapes, after all- so it was slightly strange to simply have him unresponsively staring at them as he was washed of his old tank water, before he was set into the clean salt water tank, that had some more décor in it than the barren tank with a metal bed in the center of it. Arthur kept him to the surface of it, resting on a soft hammock so that he'd be easier to feed.

However, blue eyes were fully dilated, and he seemed not to have a care in the world about anything.

"Ugh. Despicable humans." Francis muttered, holding up the results of what had been in the water. "That's ketamine he's been on…it's simply been in the water with him. No wonder he's so unresponsive. He's been taking it from every orifice."

Arthur decided to look over his lab sheets, and frowned. "It appears to be that he was originally being held for other experiments, but their medicating him made him useless for it. They did collect a fair amount of semen, though. The merman apparently was "milked" 3 times a day." He made a face. "Why are humans so disgusting, Francis?"

"I truly wish I knew why, Arthur." The two looked into the tank for a moment, before his friend spoke again. "…I think he might be blind, my friend." Francis said, after a while of staring at the merman's unresponsive form.

"We don't know that." Arthur disagreed, but it was weak. Alfred _had_ indeed seemed not to be able to see anything, but what an awful, permanent side effect of Arthur's inability to act when he had been captured and his later cowardice in not saving him sooner.

"The lights were bright- and you attested to that yourself when you said that they were all directed at him, to prevent him from seeing what was going on outside the tank."

"Yes." He nodded, not really wanting blindness to be the outcome for this young merman they had worked so hard to save. "But…"

" _But_ , merfolk have rather sensitive eyes. They might have damaged his with the lighting of the tank." Francis explained coolly. "Ketamine is a shorter acting drug. He should begin to experience withdrawal in about 12 hours, maybe a bit longer, maybe a little sooner. The sedative effects should wear off shortly, though, but I have no idea how long he's been exposed and research tells me almost nothing about it." He admitted, sighing.

"I'll keep an eye on him, then." Arthur resigned himself, fluttering to the top of the tank and sitting on the edge, where their merman had seemed to fall asleep in the hammock.

"Alright. I'm going to go see Alistair and the rest, Arthur. Just call me if you wish for me to bring him something to eat."

Footsteps told Arthur that he was alone with the merman, and he sighed. "Whenever you wake up…well, actually… if, you wake up…you are going to have a long time before you recover, if you recover. I'm so terribly sorry that it took us so long to get you out of that place… but you're free now. So there is that."

The merman had shifted, and he was clearly sleeping, looking relatively peaceful, his breathing easy as Arthur mostly talked to himself, to try and convince himself that this thing he did for this boy was good, and that this meant they were both safe, rather than both imprisoned in that…horrific place. That he hadn't taken too long, valuing his own safety above this boys life.

After a second longer, Arthur chose to lay down next to him with his hand in the water, gently stroking the cool skin in an effort to soothe him and apologize for not helping him sooner.

XXXXX

He awoke with a sharp bite on his hand and a splash of water landing on his face.

"Ack!" He shouted as he sat up quickly, and pulled his hand into his body, looking down at the bloody tooth marks on it. The merman had figured out how to get out of the hammock, and had obviously dived into the plants and leaves that Arthur and Francis had meticulously arranged for him to hide in.

"Ouch! That hurt!" The faerie shouted to no one in particular as he winced, putting pressure down on his bleeding hand. He didn't get a response, and he sighed. "Well, hello to you too. Is that really any way to thank the person who got you out of that shithole?" Arthur pointed out, before he fluttered down and away to get a bandage for his hand.

There was no response, but Arthur eventually saw the merman's head poking out, blindly feeling around the enclosure, hands first. "I assume you can hear me?"

The merman's face, with wide blue eyes, turned to where Arthur was speaking, and hissed dramatically, his shark-like teeth shown to frighten Arthur, as he backed into the tank's foliage once more.

"But you can't see." Arthur eventually said, slowly. "My name's Arthur, Alfred…I got you out of that place."

No response.

"I'm a faerie. Another person impacted by the anti-mythical creature laws. I saw you when you were taken, and I helped you escape. This is my home. You're safe now. Your body is going to go through withdrawal, and I need to watch you, okay? Can you please come out?"

Nothing.

"Do you want something to eat?"

The silence that greeted him made him sigh one again, more dramatically. His mouth was apparently sealed. Arthur knew that the merman _could_ talk, but he wouldn't force it.

"Alright. You're obviously a bit disoriented. That's fine." He resigned himself to the silence. "You're going to feel a bit sick in a few hours, if you're not already feeling sick- but it's the withdrawal from the shit they had you on. Don't be shy to say something if you need help."

There was another hiss, and Arthur jumped briefly in a combination of shock and fright at the unexpected aggression, before he sat down to get his work done.

XXXXX

A few hours later and there were groans of pain coming from the tank, clearly the withdrawal coming to attack Alfred, but every time Arthur had tried to fish him out, the merman had reacted intensely negatively writhing and hissing and snapping his maw to remind Arthur that he didn't want help.

Francis had come in, and the two of them stared at the tank quietly, attempting to problem solve. They needed to talk with the merman, but he was simply refusing and it was potentially dangerous of them to force it.

The snapping teeth truly were the dangerous piece. Arthur's bandaged arm was a testament to it.

"Alfred?" He murmured, seeing a broken face as the merman floated blindly in the water. He tapped on the tank, and the creature flinched. "We don't want to hurt you. But you're hurting yourself. Please, let us look you over- we can help you… We _want_ to help you."

"Can…." His voice was hoarse. "Can you…" He coughed and hacked, looking positively green and sickly. " _Prove_ …. that you're… a…ff….ffff…not human?" The merman seemed unable to form the sound, and his words were slow, the sound slurred.

"Of course." He flittered up to the surface, gently sitting on the edge, his back in the water. "Swim to the surface, you can feel my wings." Arthur gently dipped his delicate green wings in the water, fluttering them slightly as the water was cold. He didn't watch as the merman slowly rose to the surface, hands first. Cold hands gripped his wings, making Arthur shiver and pull back the wings automatically. "Be gentle! Those are breakable!" He pointed out, before he tentatively set them back into the water.

This times, the hands were equally tentative, gently rubbing the edges and then following them to his back, where he felt the connection to his skin and Arthur's wings fluttered anxiously, the faerie not really liking being touched there.

The hands pulled away, and Arthur felt the merman's grip rest on his shirt, holding the merman at the surface. "Can I touch you?" Arthur eventually asked, and the grip tightened on his clothing. "I need to pull you out so that we can examine you. And when we're done, we will put you back in if that's what you want."

There were no words, but as Arthur took a look at him, Alfred nodded.

"Francis, can you help me?" Alfred tensed, but Arthur hushed him gently. "Don't panic, you're just a bit too heavy for me to carry. He's the doctor, he's the one who'll look at you."

Arthur slowly pulled him out of the water, the merman's blue eyes partially glazed over and his body shaking periodically, however, as he was pulled out, he gripped Arthur tighter, first the bottom edge of his shirt, and then he adjusted his grip to be in the middle of his chest.

"Nngh…" Alfred groaned as he was lifted out of the water, gripping Arthur hard and desperately. He absently noticed that the man's fingers were webbed, and he lacked fingernails, at around the same time he noticed that the poor creature was even worse off than he had let on.

Once he was out of the water, Arthur and Francis flew carefully to the table, gently setting him down on it, finally able to see the merman in all his glory- if they could call it that. His tail was long, so long that it flopped off the table, and patches of scales had come off, undoubtedly from the chafing of the collection tools against his body. It looked, however, to be painful to touch, and Alfred looked incredibly uncomfortable. Arthur fluttered over to the tank, dipping a blanket in water, before he came back over, and gently wrapped the top part of his tail with it.

The merman looked slightly more comfortable, and Arthur gently squeezed his hand. "I'm so sorry." He murmured. "What they did to you was unacceptable. They're simply…animals."

Alfred didn't answer, and Francis' gentle hands were met with flinches at first, the merman uncertain if he could trust him, but he slowly relaxed. "…Can you… heat…?" He shivered, his voice distorted.

"Are you cold?" Arthur asked, and the merman nodded quickly, Alfred's voice betraying him with feeble noises that were quickly growing into whimpers. He shifted, before casting a spell that would warm the merman from within.

Francis briefly gave him an odd look, but Alfred's shivers stopped, and things continued quietly.

That was, of course, when Alfred started to tense up, his eyes rolled back into his head and he began to seize violently. "God." Arthur muttered as he and Francis helped the young man to the floor, to prevent him from falling off the table. "They did this to him knowing he would suffer for it."

"They did this to him with the plan to kill him, Arthur." Francis corrected as he gently held down the tail, and Alfred kept Alfred's head in his lap until the motions stopped, and he seemed to have passed out.

"W'ssat…?" Alfred asked them, weakly, looking about ready to pass out. "Happen' in thngn…"

"It's a seizure, Alfred." Arthur explained, stroking his hair as they rode out his remaining tremors, and once Alfred had stopped entirely, Francis and Arthur put him back on the table. "Did you hurt yourself?"

The merman seemed dazed for a moment longer, before he nodded. "S' weird… dun' like…" He slurred, before his breathing evened out and he seemed to be dozing.

Arthur sighed, his wings flittering anxiously, betraying his mood. "They had mentioned on the tapes that…you know. That he was losing brain matter."

"And muscle mass." Francis agreed grimly. "However, we don't know what that means yet. For now, we will simply watch him. Don't forget, he's riding out the withdrawal symptoms. He has been drugged nearly constantly for 2 months. This will be a rough patch for him- and we knew that going in. But he is alive. Thanks to you."

Arthur sat down next to Alfred, and the merman shivered a bit. The spell had worn off, since Arthur's magic had been directed elsewhere. "Do fish need heaters?" He asked, eventually stumped. "I know next to nothing about caring for merfolk!"

"It might be that it's an after effect of their treatment? It could have harmed his ability to regulate his internal temperature? I know that can happen to humans." Francis suggested with a raised eyebrow for his outburst. "If so, it might be good to heat the water a bit."

Alfred's head rolled to the side in his sleep, and Arthur looked down at him quietly, simply observing. He gently pushed his wet blonde hair out of his face, and smiled down when he noticed the dull blue eyes staring at him. There was no response, and the smile went away once he remembered that the merman was blind now.

"…Can't see." He mumbled, frightened as he stared sightlessly, and Arthur watched helplessly as the merman began to whimper and curl in on himself.

"Shhh…" He hushed, making the merman jerk suddenly and gasp, before breathing out a sigh of relief. "I've not left you alone, Alfred." The merman simply curled up, and Arthur figured he'd explain. "It was the lights that did it to you, we think." Arthur explained quietly, taking the merman's shaking hand and gripping it. "Shhh…it's okay. It's okay. It's probably scary, but it's okay."

The merman nodded jerkily, letting Arthur's words wash over him. "Don' leave…" He begged in a broken whisper, hanging onto the offered hand in desperation. "Don' wanna be alone…"

Arthur tensed at first, the merman having gripped the hand he had bitten only 5 or 6 hours before, but then he jumped up to the table, and sat down by his head, lifting it before he shifted over slightly, and rested Alfred's head in his lap. "I'm here, Alfred. I've not left you alone…I promise, love."

He shivered, and Arthur warmed his body once more with a thoughtless spell. "Just keep pushing… the withdrawal will have to end sometime, and then you'll feel much better. Keep your chin up!" He tried to be positive, even as the merman stared sightlessly, hopelessly, up to where his face was in space.

"Why d'they…?" Alfred slurred after a moment, his blue eyes gathering tears as his face crumpled into sadness, and his broken sobs stabbed through Arthur with guilt.

"I wish I could tell you, love." He whispered gently, wiping his tears and trying to comfort him. "I wish I could tell you."


	2. Chapter 2

The withdrawal did end.

It had been long, the group having been miserably stuck in it for the past 10 hours. It's final death throws had been Alfred stuck in a feverish delirium, part of it spent crying and desperately close, part of it had been spent in a fever induced rage, and it had been sporadically separated by seizures and vomiting fits.

But it did end.

The two faerie men drew a deep sigh of relief as the fever broke and an hour had passed since Alfred's last fit, the one they now believed to be the final fit of his withdrawal.

Arthur stroked dried out blonde hair, replacing the vomit and blood stained blanket Alfred was wrapped in with a new one, freshly dipped in his water tank. "Well, that has to be the worst of it." He nodded confidently. "From here on out, it will just get easier."

"Arthur my friend, you should know better than to tempt fate." Francis muttered tiredly, picking vomit out of his long blonde hair with a disgusted look on his face that honestly made him look unattractive. Arthur would have delighted in the chance to gloat normally, however he had just spent the past 10 hours helping him care intensively for this sick merman, and the past two months assisting Arthur in breaking out aforementioned merman.

"Hasn't he suffered enough?" Arthur pointed out quietly, yawning as he leaned back against his chair, having moved a fair amount since this had started. He'd also not slept.

Francis rolled his eyes. "Tell that to all the magical folk that are being brought to the slaughterhouse." He reminded, turning up the volume to better hear the news.

"Growing concerns of ethical violations are being brought up, but anti-Controls protests are increasingly unpopular in the mainstream public, as they attract police intervention and anti-Mythical protestors alike, and dissolve into violent riots that destroy a great amount of property." 

Alfred growled at the words of the unfamiliar voice, and Arthur gave a sigh of angry agreement. "I _know_ , Alfred." He muttered. "Humans are inordinately upset by property damage incurred by protestors and anti-protestors, while we suffer and die because of _their_ laws." Arthur then suddenly realized that Alfred was awake, and he smiled a bit, laughing breathily as he ruffled his hair. "Glad to see you made it through the night in one piece, love."

The merman's blue eyes opened tiredly, and he curled in on himself after a moment of staring around the room sightlessly. "Was'nt a nightmare…" He muttered, sounding incredibly disappointed, and upset clouded his eyes with tears and forced soft noises from him, gripping himself in desperation.

Arthur sat with him, turning off the music with a flick of magical energy. Francis rolled his eyes, but sat in silence.

"It wasn't a nightmare." Arthur agreed sadly, placing his hand over the merman's arm to comfort him. "However, you made it out, in relatively one piece, still alive." The merman shivered and whimpered a bit, jerking at the contact but then leaned into it, frightened of the foreign touch just as he was frightened of being alone. Arthur's heart hurt for the creatures inability to decide whether he wanted to be alone or have his personal space invaded.

"Shhh, shh…" Arthur hushed him gently. "What can I do for you to make this easier on you?" He asked, pulling himself away slightly, before he gently picked up Alfred's hands, guiding it to where he was currently sitting.

The merman pulled back tentatively at first, before he slowly reached back out to grip at Arthur on his own terms, seeming to relax a bit as he could do it on his own, and it wasn't that Arthur was so close to him, but rather, he that could get closer to Arthur.

"Can't go home." Alfred mumbled, tears having dripped down his face and dried a bit. "Can't see…"

"You can't see, that's right." Arthur murmured. "Humans were using a light in your tank that was ridiculously bright, and it's damaged your eyes. I wish I could say you might recover your eyesight, but it's nothing guaranteed."

The merman nodded slowly, feeling Arthur's skin. "You feel weird." He commented after a moment. "Different than humans, but also not mer."

"It's the magic, lad." He smiled easily at the question. "We conceal our true forms with a glamour, and the magic literally becomes a coat on top of our forms, so it feels strange to other magical creatures. Overall, the Fae tend to run a little hot-blooded since our magical cores tend to be rather… fiery."

Alfred nodded, interested. "Mer can run cold…we like to be warm, though." He sighed. "Matt n' I…live by a volcanic vent." He paused, suddenly upset by his own words, hiccupping as a precursor to tears- the man unable to comprehend the error in his mind. "Or… _l-lived_."

Arthur gently rubbed the back of Alfred's hand. "Who's Matt?" He asked, trying to get him off that topic as Francis took notes, trying to figure out how they could heat his tank practically.

The merman hiccupped again, shivering before Arthur heated him up again. "My brother." He whispered. "W-we're twins…told me not to…go to shore. But…" He gasped, shaking. "But… a…a human child…they were drowning. I couldn't… c-couldn't…" He gasped, tearing up and breaking down.

Francis barely stopped himself from physically gasping. They had berated the young merman for getting so close to shore when he was first caught. No wonder now how humans had so easily gotten their hands on him.

Despicable. Arthur couldn't even formulate words to offer condolences for what had happened to him. This young merman had only been trying to help. And he had this happen to him. How disgusting of humans. He had only been trying to help, and they had attacked and hurt him, and he was not going to ever be quite the same.

He hushed him again, letting him get his tears out now. "This must be a hard situation for you. Do mer live in groups? I don't know much about how they work…smaller sized fae typically live in large groups, but us larger fae will either live as their ruler or live relatively solitary…occasionally with a partner or family."

Alfred seemed to pause, before gripping Arthur a bit tighter. "C-can…you…" He tried to pull himself up off the table, however his core strength had obviously been weakened by his time in captivity. He understood the message, and gently supported the man's chest and helped him sit up.

With a sigh of relief, the merman seemed to reorient himself with some difficulty, and Arthur propped him up on some pillows, before sitting next to him quietly.

"Mer…we live in pods." He murmured. "Not with our parents, of course, but with any twins- a rare occurrence- and with other mer we meet in the nursing grounds that are our age…we live for a few years in the nursing grounds, usually long enough to see multiple blooms. Sometimes we'll get brought into the care of an older mer who is a good leader, but that's apparently rare. Matthew and I were…lucky, but we knew that from the moment we were born as identical twins. We were the only surviving young in the grounds, because of humans." He took in another deep breath, before continuing.

"An older mermaid found us…she was sad since she had laid her own young there the year before, and humans... It was after humans had discovered our existence, but the first year that they started to really infringe into our nursing grounds. They killed her…her babies… But Eliza had been taking the best care she could of us, and she had warned me to not get involved…but…" He breathed in a shaky gasp, tears dripping once again. "Matt probably thinks he's…he's alone now. After all we did to… to _surv-vive_ when we were little…" He sobbed, burying his face in his hands. "We're both alone… alone…"

Arthur rubbed his back slowly. "Shhhh…it's…. it's not okay, but you'll make it through this. Would you feel up to eating something?"

The merman's sobs tapered off, and he stared sightlessly as he sniffled, trying to collect himself and failing to. Arthur wrapped an arm around his shoulders, making the merman jump a bit, before leaning into the motion and begin to sob all over again.

Emotional deregulation, Francis mouthed, and Arthur nodded, rubbing Alfred's back as the French faerie got up to get food for their guest/patient. He allowed Alfred to lean against him, looking at the many pages of his information sheet for an answer to his current issues.

The answer was found by reading through his chart. Social isolation was something Arthur had known he had been subjected to, but since he himself was typically a solitary creature, it was strange to see the effects on another magical creature.

This was obviously what the humans had done to him. Anger stirred in Arthur's gut, and he desired to show them exactly what they had done to this poor boy. Alfred hadn't deserved this. He hadn't! The merman tired out quickly, and leaned against Arthur, his eyelids drooping as he fought off exhaustion feebly.

"Close your eyes, stupid." Arthur muttered, coming off with more irritation than intended and floundering to change his words as the merman looked shocked and saddened by his words. "I'm sorry. I'm not upset with you, I'm upset with what they did to you." He gestured to the chart in his hands. "You should rest, though. There's only one thing that'll fix this, and that's time." The faerie sighed slowly.

He knew the worse ending, though: that there wouldn't ever be a "fix" to this, no matter how much Alfred hoped or how long Arthur cared for him.

Alfred seemed to be taken aback still, but he lay down and Arthur put his hand over the cold, webbed appendage to comfort him. "I am sorry for saying that. I'm not angry with you. You _should_ rest, alright?" The merman made a confused and upset noise, even as he relaxed, letting Arthur sit with him.

Francis came back in with a flutter and a tray of food he had prepared, and sat down a bit away from where the merman lay. The head turned to look at nothing where Francis had sat down, and Alfred stared there for a long while, before closing them.

"There's really not a point to keeping them open…" Alfred eventually mumbled, agreeing quietly and sadly. "I had thought it was…well." He paused, thinking hard for a moment. "I unno what I thought it was…it's all gone weird. I remember a lot but also nothing."

"Francis brought in food." Arthur eventually said, unsure of what else to say to him, and Alfred's eyes opened again, staring at nothing.

"Oh." He said, uncertain. "Well, I'll try it…"

"Francis?" Arthur called him over, gently helping Alfred sit up again, the merman confusedly trying to feel with his hands where they were. Arthur looked at the appendages in curiosity, gently rubbing the webbed fingers in curiosity once more.

Francis then came closer, allowing Arthur to bring the webbed fingers to the food, Alfred looking incredibly scared, uncertain of what he was about to eat. As he felt it, and it felt warm, he bared his teeth and withdrew his hand from where Arthur was holding it.

"That's not food." Alfred growled, shaking his head and withdrawing from Arthur entirely.

"What do you eat, then?" Francis asked, setting the food aside with a sigh.

"…Not that." Alfred said, shaking his head harder. "Can I go back in water?"

Arthur and Francis met each other's glances nervously. If they turned him down, Alfred could be driven further from them, but being in the water wasn't a good idea- he was sick, and he was half-starved.

"That's fine." Francis eventually said. "But you need to promise us to tell us if you feel like you're going to be sick again."

Alfred nodded slowly, letting the two of them pick him up and set him back into the tank, and Alfred sunk and disappeared into the foliage. After he was gone and the leaves were still, assuming that he was curled up somewhere in there, on the things that Arthur had provided for him when establishing the tank.

"I wonder if there's a way to find his brother." Arthur immediately said, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "He probably knows how to care for him better."

"You know, sharks can smell blood, potentially from miles away." Francis pointed out after a moment. "We are both covered in Alfred's blood. If we go to the ocean, there's potential that he will come to us to find Alfred."

Arthur nodded, rubbing his forehead. "Yes, that actually does sound very smart. But-how would we transport him here? How would we prove our good intentions without putting ourselves in danger?"

"We could carry Alfred to him." Francis said, and Arthur shook his head.

"Alfred is _sick_ , and he wouldn't survive on his own if his brother took him into the water- he's definitely blind, and potentially his body and mind have been warped by the tender care of those humans. His muscle mass is gone, and he's half-starved, and if we are caught he'll get sent back, along with us." Arthur argued. "One of us should stay with him, and the other should go find Matthew, that way if we are caught, Alfred is still being looked after."

"I can stay." Francis said instantly. "You are far more covered in blood than I am, and additionally, I will try to make something more palatable to him. I think the first error I made was serving a hot dish, which isn't something you'd find in the ocean, I imagine." Francis said, and Arthur was secretly disappointed he wasn't going to be spending more time trying to build up a relationship, but he did in fact know more about Matthew from what Alfred had said.

"I'll talk to him about what I would say to his brother, if we can get him…" Arthur said quietly. "And I'll tell him to call for you if he needs help."

Francis nodded, before walking back to the kitchen. Arthur waited a moment, before gently knocking on the glass. Alfred's face appeared after a moment, looking disoriented and surprised at the noise. He did, though come out.

"Hey, Alfred." Arthur said quietly. "I'm going to try to find your brother."

Alfred's eyes lit up, and he nodded as he grinned. "Matt! Yes, he's out there!"

"How can I get ahold of him, and if I do, how can I reassure him that it's actually you?" He asked, and the smile faded on Alfred's face.

"Uhm, well…" Alfred murmured. "I come…?"

Arthur felt his breath hitch at the forlorn, broken question. "I don't know if that's a good idea." He murmured. "But I'll tell you why, and if you still want to come, I won't stop you." Arthur then fluttered to the top of the tank, reaching his hand into the water to guide Alfred to the spot he had left on the surface for Alfred to rest on if he desired.

The merman was tentative, but eventually lay down on it, seeming to relish in the warmth there. "Mmm…you put in a heater?" Alfred asked, and Arthur nodded.

"While you were sick from the withdrawal, my brother set up a heater in there, it'll take time for the water to really heat up, though." Arthur confirmed. "I was going to head to the ocean soon, as I am very tired..."

"Why's it…a bad idea…I come…?" He asked, curled up in the water quietly, enjoying the heat somewhat even as he framed his question very well for someone in his state.

"Well, it's dangerous for us magical folk to be outside." Arthur admitted. "And though I have a glamour that most humans cannot see that hides my wings, some can see through it with technology. That means that it's possible I can get caught, and if I am caught with you…then you would be sent back to that place." Arthur sighed. "And they were going to either kill you, or sell you to the highest bidder, and I am not sure which one of those fates is worse."

Alfred was uncertain, but nodded.

"Additionally, Alfred, I only have room in the suitcase I carried you in for one." He said, smiling kindly. "It's enchanted, surely, to carry a creature about your size, but no more. If I brought you, I would have to leave Matthew there- because certainly you realize that you wouldn't survive long in the ocean as you are now."

The merman froze, and he paused, biting his lip and ringing his hands that told Arthur he was still anxiously listening.

"It's been over 2 months since they took you, Alfred." Arthur quietly told him. "We don't know everything they did to you, and we don't know how badly certain things were on your mind and body. You notice you've lost muscle mass, yes? I don't know if you've noticed, or to what extent it's actually happened, but a similar thing has happened with your brain." Arthur slowly explained. "Meaning that…well, that you're not like how you used to be. The seizures were likely a symptom of a bigger problem- and we don't know how bad that problem is yet, or how long it might take you to heal, we don't even know if you'll heal at all."

Alfred seemed to have followed all that, since he looked very scared by the time Arthur had finished speaking. The merman slowly felt his head, before hugging himself, and sinking back into the water, sniffling quietly as he remained curled up on the surface, and remaining there. 

"I'll go to find your brother." Arthur said after a moment of watching this. "It's not…it's not a bad thing, Alfred, it is, but…it's not your fault, it's the fault of humans, those that held you captive and their fucked up minds."

There wasn't an answer, and Arthur sighed. "Francis is still here, he's going to try and give you options, and if you need help…he's close by, alright?"

No answer again, and Arthur rubbed his hands against the nape of his neck, getting tired, and walked away from the tank, grabbing the bag he had enchanted to carry Alfred in in case Matthew trusted him enough to allow it.

XXXXX

Upon arriving at the ocean's edge, Arthur sat down, examining the dark water in contemplation. Surely, Matthew wouldn't outright attack him for smelling of his brother's blood, would he? Could he even identify whose blood it was?

Arthur gave in, and sat in the water for a moment, letting the small waves wash over him. Sunrise was so far away, and since he had spent essentially 24 hours awake. He had cast spells on himself to make sure he was still self-aware, but he was tired.

He wondered if Alfred wished he hadn't been saved- if he had died there, and left things at that. His stomach flipped at the thought. What did Alfred feel about his current situation? Should Arthur have not told him the news? Would it depress him?

The water in front of him had no answers, the taste of saltiness in his mouth feeling somewhat earned as he spluttered the moment after a wave hitting him.

Upon seeing he was still alone, and that he was soaked, Arthur decided to play it safe and go back to shore. He'd probably call Francis and ask if he needed things picked up from the store while he was out, looking around inconspicuously before he dried himself off with a quick spell. Alfred's scent was out there now, and he lay against the rocks he was hidden behind quietly.

He rubbed his eyes, and thought back quietly. His parents had died to this fight, and many of the smaller faeries had fled the human realm altogether. He had occasionally had thought of doing so himself, but he wouldn't put it past humanity to eventually break the barrier should they find out about one.

He didn't have much positive hope for humanity- they took, and they took, and they took. First draining the land, then themselves, and now the rest of life that this world had to offer them. Slowly and surely, humanity would consume itself whole, and damn whatever else was with them in the process.

He buried his tired face in his hands, absolutely exhausted.

XXXXX

"Hey. Person. Fae folk or whatever you are."

He snapped his head up, his mind hazy and tired and he didn't really remember when he had gone to sleep, only knowing he had to have, since now there was a merman whose purple eyes stuck out of the water just barely, the top of his head all he allowed to be seen.

"Ah." Arthur collected himself, yawning. "Are you Matthew?" He asked, not moving in case he spooked the merman.

"And who's asking?" The merman bared his teeth in suspicion, Arthur noticing the animalistic gleam in his eyes that Alfred lacked.

"The faerie who helped his brother escape." He rubbed his eyes again. "Alfred's…not well." He finished awkwardly. "I would dare say he's…bad, actually. The humans… put him in a bad spot."

Purple eyes had grown alarmed, and he had stiffened slightly from what little Arthur could see. "What's happened to him?"

"The very first thing we noticed is that he's been blinded, but from what we know is that he's lost his muscle from being caged the whole experience, and the concoction of things they gave him have left him a little…battered, how about I call it? And we have no idea how to feed him."

The head emerged a bit more, worry for Alfred obviously overpowering fear of Arthur. "Can you prove it? What has he said?"

"He's not spoken much, honestly." Arthur sighed. "He was in withdrawal for over 10 hours, and now he's woken up…he's scared, and afraid, and burst into tears at the thought of his brother being alone out here, even though he had already said that a woman named Eliza would be with him, but he's very, very upset."

The merman suddenly disappeared under the water, and Arthur chittered indignantly as he was splashed, his green eyes glowing in anger, and he stood suddenly, wiping himself off. "Thanks for nothing!" He growled angrily, well and truly pissed as he prepared to leave, before the merman hit him again with a splash of cold water straight in the middle of his back.

The merman was now looking more convinced, and sighed as he held up a basket woven from items Arthur had never seen before, full of fish and other sea creatures. "I take it you have a way to bring me to him, since I am Matthew?" He murmured, rubbing his forehead as he slowly pulled himself out of the water to the shoreline, and Arthur quickly dunked the suitcase in the seawater, gesturing for Matthew to get in it.

The merman stared at it for a moment, muttered something about "Fucking magic", and sunk into the magically enchanted bag with a few more derogatory clicks at Arthur, before Arthur closed it, grateful it was that easy. He started walking on his merry way, making sure that the ocean wiped away the place where they had been sitting from the sand.

XXXXX

He arrived back at the apartment exhausted and stumbling, and Francis was almost instantly hovering over Arthur even as the faerie tiredly opened the bag and Matthew's head came out. "Ah, so you didn't double cross me. Good." Matthew said, looking at the tank curiously and a bit warily. Alfred was hiding again, it seemed.

"Alfred's in there." Francis alerted the merman in a sleepy murmur, just as tired as Arthur was at this point. "Poor thing tried to eat something else but refused to in the end. Arthur and I can get you in there if that's what you'd like."

The new merman nodded, and put his head back under before the two fluttered up to the top of the tank, and left the bag just under the water. Matthew nodded, and all of a sudden Alfred's head popped up, his eyes wide as he swam forward in desperation before hitting the tank's wall face-first. He cried quietly, before Matthew no longer was controlled, instead going down and gripping Alfred tightly, the two brothers embracing.

My goodness, Alfred! You're alive!" Matthew stroked his hair, clutching the definitely smaller merman to him. "They weren't kidding when they said that you'd lost some muscle." Matthew murmured, stroking his hair, the blue-eyed merman clicking and humming sadly even as Alfred nuzzled his brother.

Matthew clicked, giving a thankful stare at Arthur, before disappearing into the foliage with Alfred held tightly against him. He rose back to the surface a moment later, and grabbed the cage of sea creatures from the bag, before diving back down.

The two faeries looked at each other, and smiled tiredly, before they marched off to their room, Arthur lazily doing his spell to grow flowers around his place on the floor as Francis simply crashed on his bed in the tree hole he had carved for himself.

And Arthur lay down surrounded by his enchanted flowers, and he dreamt.

XXXXX

 _Mummy!_

 _His small wings weren't fast enough to go against the winds of change, as he watched his parents and some of his siblings fly ahead of him, and he cried and he cried as he watched them be rounded up and shot dead before him._

" _A good specimen, wouldn't you agree?" The scientist said as she gripped Arthur's dick. "Perfect for our breeding experiments."_

" _A mythical faerie like this isn't an opportunity to be passed!" An older man, coated in sweat and a sickly smile stared at Arthur. "Imagine how it's magic could spice up your sex life!"_

" _My, I love the way your wings look. I wonder if I could preserve them like one would a butterfly- a pity you won't survive this, you're a rather pretty one." And then pain coursed through Arthur as the human hunter ripped out his spine._

Arthur sat up with a shout, before recognizing the dim lighting and the familiar feeling of flowers around him. For the moment, Arthur just gasped for air, gripping himself in fear. Alistair had come to bed, and was woken by Arthur's fearful noise, leaving his spot in the tree branches to flutter down to Arthur's side.

"There, there, my brother." He said calmly, still half-asleep himself. "It was just a nightmare."

The faerie shivered, before leaning into the touch. Alistair and him were the only surviving fae of the Kirkland bloodline, descending from the Faerie court of Avalon. Francis wasn't from Avalon, unable to trace his roots, but a member of the larger Fae variety nonetheless.

The President of the United States had said this as he announced the very first Mythical Creatures Controls Act:

 _"As non-human creatures that have been shown to display aggression, it is up to the human governments in the world to take a stand on the recently discovered presence of so-called "magical" creatures. It may be true that they are not all aggressive, but we know so little about them and they are apparently all around us- and we must learn more about their capabilities before we can trust their presence, just like any immigrant population. If they are truly not our enemies, then they should show that by allowing us to survey them and let our systems come to their natural conclusion."_

The law allowed all of what he saw in his dream and more. It wasn't of Arthur's concern that humans couldn't "trust" them for they didn't know enough about them, it was his deep set hatred in the fact that he _didn't_ trust them because he knew too much about them.

Humans were vile creatures, and they were content to stay that way under the guise it was for their security that they hunted them down for their own enjoyment. Their perverse law meant to hide their cruelty hadn't protected a single human, since humans weren't ever in danger. No, but it had left the blood of millions of magical folk on their precious law.

They didn't consider them to be on equal ground as humans, no. They were creatures that needed to be controlled and monitored. And one day, Arthur would take immense pleasure in punching the man in the face for damning his kind to this hell that humans called justice. Justice for what? For being different than them?

Humans had damned those for not looking like them since the dawn of civilization. It was so immensely human to judge those different from you that Arthur wondered how on earth they had ever evolved past those preliminary stages, for humans had bounced back every time the Earth had attempted to purge them.

The merman Alfred had been tortured, for daring to save an innocent child from drowning, and Arthur's family had been killed for daring to speak out against the act, since they felt that humans could be reasoned with, if only magical folk put the olive branch out to be taken.

Arthur laughed at the thought now, as humans still hid their prejudice behind the idea they needed to be protected from magical folk. Though, perhaps that was the truth now: many had become disillusioned with the idea that humans could ever be trusted, himself included.

Upon realizing that Alistair was snoring, and that he wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep, Arthur stood up, and quietly fluttered out of the room, closing the door with its floral enchantment once again.

He yawned, and flitted his way to the den, turning on the TV as he sat by the couch, and configured it to magically tune into the Mythical Channels, to see what was on news.

They were reporting on the destruction of the lab that Alfred had been kept in, and Arthur smiled in tired joy as the reporter cheered whoever had done this for freeing countless individuals in the process. Once the fire had broken out, so had many mythical creatures that had been captive there. The first wave were recent arrivals, escaping quickly, and the second wave were those that had been carried out by those in the first wave along with friends and relatives and volunteers.

"The person who disabled the camera technology and destroyed the human's database is unknown, but eyewitnesses state that the heroic mythical was a faerie who was there for a merman, in a absolutely wonderful example of cross-magical cooperation." The reporter stated, before zooming in on a nymph with bandages all over her face.

"Sir, do you feel slighted that he didn't help others escape?" The reporter asked, and the nymph shook her head, smiling tiredly.

"Of course not. The two faeries there were risking their life for one person who desperately needed to be freed, a merman who had been very badly mistreated from what little I saw. However, when we saw them enter, we knew that our chance had revealed itself. A genie set the place on fire, and we were able to leave. They had destroyed all the database information about us, and so the humans won't be able to track us now that we are free."

"If they're watching us tonight, what would you say to them?"

"Oh goodness!" She laughed, before she coughed a bit. "I'd tell them that they were incredibly brave, and that it's a sign of renewed hope for us mythical creatures, to those who have been captured and those with family that has been captured, that there are still those out there who care enough to resist humanity."

"Thank you very much, Miss Erika Lily Vogel, and I wish you the best of luck in finding your way out of this town and back to your family. That will be all tonight, as we continue to cover the biggest breakout in mythical creature history, I say thank you to the anonymous faeries that made this possible. This is the late night news with Gilbert Beilschmidt, gargoyle extraordinaire, goodnight!"

"The biggest escape ever, eh?" The voice of a tired merman made Arthur jump, and turn around to flush at Matthew's question.

"…Yes, it would seem so." Arthur agreed awkwardly. "I had known there had to have been other creatures there, but I hadn't known how to get to them."

"But it seems they were freed anyway, because of what you did for Alfred." The merman said quietly. "Thank you, for that, anyway. He is…not well, like you said, but he said that he was supposed to have been killed and cut open for their means." Matthew rubbed his forehead tiredly. "So thank you, for saving him. He…he means a lot to me."

"I had gathered that." Arthur murmured as he rubbed his eyes. "Your important to him too."

"…He won't be good enough to survive in the water, either." Matthew agreed quietly. "His mental state…isn't the best for hunting or even really, swimming on his own in open water, even if he were to build his muscle back. So." Matthew took in a deep breath. "As sad as it is, he will need to be kept in a tank like this…potentially forever."

Arthur nodded quietly. "I had figured." He murmured. "It was nothing but the right thing to do, Matthew. My own family became victims of humans, and I know the feeling of being unable to help them as they suffer. What will you do, though?"

"…." Matthew was quiet, unsure of himself. "I'll need to think about that. You should go to bed, silly faerie."

Arthur chuckled, and nodded as he turned off the TV. "I'll let you sleep in peace, then." He mumbled, before flying back to his room, comforted both in Matthew's words of thanks as well as the news that the lab had been entirely destroyed as Alfred struggled.

No other magical creature would be condemned to die in that lab.


End file.
